The State Government’s mission to position Odisha amongst the top three startup destinations in the country got a fresh booster shot with the launch of the Startup Odisha portal by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
While inaugurating the portal, the Chief Minister called upon the youths of Odisha to take full advantage of the Startup Odisha initiative to realise their dreams.
He stated that the Odisha Startup portal is a one-stop platform for the startups, incubators and investors in Odisha for registration and availing benefits under the Odisha Startup Policy.
Patnaik expressed hope that the portal will act as a catalyst in boosting the startup ecosystem in the State and help in achieving the mission -1,000 startups by 2020.
He also released a compendium of the Startup Policy with amendments and the revised operational guidelines. The Chief Minister complimented the collaborative efforts of team MSME Odisha, Team Invest India and NIC in development of the Startup Odisha portal.
For incubators, process of matching capital grants has also been introduced. Moreover, the operating guidelines have also been revised to ensure further ‘Ease of Starting Up’.
The portal has been carefully crafted, adhering to the three core principles of ease of usage, transparency and knowledge sharing.
Having been seamlessly linked with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Startup India, it reduces duplication of efforts in filing of information.
Moreover, a single page registration with minimum documentation greatly enhances ease of its usage. With clearly laid out eligibility criteria and benefits, an online dashboard clearly conveys status of an application to the concerned startup/incubator.
The portal also provides essential sample tools and templates on commercial lease agreement, consultancy agreement, employment agreement and non-disclosure agreement which are regularly required by startups during their operations.In a bid to educate the youths of Odisha regarding entrepreneurship, a four- week long online learning and Development Programme developed by UpGrad in association with Invest India has been made available on the Startup Odisha portal. Comprising of 6 modules on idea identification and assessment, understanding basics of finance, law and business planning, fundraising and pitching, it is available free of cost for the youths of the State.
It is interesting to note that the portal also emphasises the need for creating local angel funding networks and has an easy process for registering them under the Startup Odisha initiative.
For developing the startup ecosystem in the State, the Government has identified access to infrastructure, mentorship and guidance, national and global exposure and access to funding as the major levers for growth.
The Government is therefore focussing on addressing all these aspects to play a lead role in facilitating the creation of a dynamic and vibrant environment where entrepreneurship is not just encouraged but also flourishes.